The Birth of a New Eve
by shinjitsu1
Summary: In an alternate universe, the Third Impact never took place. In this universe, Shinji sacrificed himself for Asuka and ended up saving the world. But the story is not over yet...
1. The End of the World?

The End of the World or the Start of a new one?  
  
She saw the ceiling, as white and simple as the floor below although it lacked the shininess. But it was not Misato's apartment, it wasn't her room. It was another place. It was another unfamiliar ceiling. She wondered what had happen. The assault, NERV, Rei, Misato, Mother, Shinji. She noticed how much closer was she to Shinji since the last time she saw him, since the time he showed bravery for the first time. "Take care of them. The world is worth saving after all." she could hear those worlds again and again. But she specially remembered, "I'll never forget you, Asuka."  
Her mind rambled with symbols and thoughts. Angels which ravaged her mind in attempts to destroy her pure soul, people who abandoned her when her life was even more difficult, machines which saved her who she couldn't define as monsters or saviors. That was her life, her past life. A clump of lies and deadly beguiling which could only lead to this terrible end. She could almost sighed as she thought where it might had led if fortune, or maybe God, wasn't in their side at the time. She decided to rest, to stay put for a while and just hear the beating of her heart through the machine, as small droplets which felt into an endless sea.  
Someone entered, but she didn't really care or mind, she couldn't just talk yet. She was too traumatized after the Tree of Life was almost formed by the Evangelion Mass Production and Eva-01. After the assault of JSDF clashed against the civilians in NERV. After SEELE took over. After Shinji died. 


	2. Did you love me?: The Girl in the Presen...

Episode 25 Did you love me?  
  
Part 1: The Girl in the Present  
  
"So, that's the girl?" the boy looked at a 16 years old redhead which laid motionless in a bed.  
"Yes. We don't have anyone else. The problem is she doesn't talk. She probably will just stay there as she is" the nurse did give him a confident smile, thought, "but who knows, maybe you are a better psychologist than the ones in here. I would give it a try."  
"Ah, well. I'll, but I was looking forward to gamble with the older folks."  
"Not today, I told you that if your class came, the whole place would be filled up," she started walking towards the door, "Besides, you always talk about how good a psychologist you will be. Give it a try."  
"Whatever." he sighed as the door closed behind him. "Well, here we are, just both of us. Talk!"  
Futile.  
"Um, I suppose you are not a good talker. Well, then I'll probably be the only one who talks here."  
Awkward.  
"Ah. You know, it would be awesome if you could actually talk. I mean, you do look good." he sighed again and thought that sounded really strange if he was talking to someone in comma, "Erg. not like am going to do anything, just saying so". He looked around the room. The whiteness was to intense for his liking. Doctors said the color was calming, but he hated the power it held. The power of sanity. "You probably hate this room." he looked at her hair again, "You probably prefer red. Your karma seems to be red, whatever karma is". He sat down next to her bed and stared deeply at her, "Um, well, I'll try to figure out who you were. Only thing I know is that you were found with a strange red suit on a Japanese illegal boat. Seemed everyone committed suicide. Probably because of the. event which happened. The same event should have traumatized you." He turned his gaze towards the window and started arranging some of his thoughts, "I heard about giant mechas commanded by teenagers your age, who protected Tokyo-03 from some kind of disaster. Maybe you were involved. Genocide occurred. Maybe you were involved after all, perhaps you are an important component of whatever was that big operation directed by UN and those sailormen were just protecting you. Ordered to kill themselves after the package was delivered. Or perhaps before."  
He sighed. Trying to do something about her condition seemed so futile. And he was going psychotic himself. "I'm sure you were a nice girl before. You couldn't have been bad. Not ever. I can sense that."  
Shinji.  
"Oh well, am just going to play some solitary. Unless you want to play Blackjack against me."  
Challenge.  
"Guess you won't. well, I did what I could. You are the only one who can set yourself free."  
Freedom.  
  
Time stopped. Asuka appeared in her room back in Germany. The room that still had the dolls, thought. She glanced around, noticing how much she missed those days. She cried. She sobbed against her bed with her heart broken, remembering how she lost everything. Everyone she knew was gone. "Cry as much as you want, Asuka."  
"Mother?" her blurry eyes glanced towards the door. Her mother stood there, dressed in a red dress which suited her slim shape and brunette hair impeccably.  
"Here I am. I'll always be with you." she walked towards her, then caressed her hair as she used to before she was lost in her own desperation.  
"But the Eva, it is."  
She placed her fingers in her lips, silencing her delicately, "I always loved you. They all did. We'll always do. And everyone else you'll meet will follow."  
Her eyes widened as she felt a new energy which filled her, the energy of life.  
  
"Wait. I haven't played in a while." the boy could hear a small whisper, a small breeze which delicately showed it's outstanding love for life, "But I'll beat you anyways."  
  
She looked at herself in the mirror. Her short blue hair contrasted her red eyes in a exotic way. But those eyes were filled with feelings now. She could feel that strange energy inside of her, waiting to be delivered into the world around her. And Shinji was the one who granted her such special gift. The emotionless Rei was now substituted by a young and innocent Rei. The innocence which was once part of Yui and her own youth. She could feel her inside of her, replenishing the parts of her soul which were empty. Tears rolled down her cheek, but she was accustomed to them since Shinji's death. "Ayanami, Commander Fuyutsuki wants to talk to you" Lt. Ibuki told the unsuspecting teenager.  
"I. I'll go." her voice was trembling.  
"Are you alright?" Ibuki asked from the outsides of the dressing room.  
"Yes. I'll go" she dried her tears and rinsed her face, trying to dissimulate the weeping. She then walked out into the corridors. Ibuki was gone already, Rei thought that would help her as she caught her breath. The dark hallways were empty. Old NERV would have been flooding with people, but this was STARKE. The new part of the UN concerning the Complementation. SEELE is still fully operation, with the exception of Kiel Lorenz, after his disappointment in seeing Eva-01 destroyed. So the new organization, STARKE was formed by the remnants of NERV, under the command of Fuyutsuki. That was two years ago. Now the organization has grown to twice it's size, yet the corridors are not flooded because no activities are being performed yet. She was outside of Fuyutsuki's office now. She breathed deeply and entered, "Commander, you called?"  
"Yes, Rei. Take a sit" the dark room was similar to Gendou's old one, yet this one had no strange symbols and garments around. Fuyutsuki looked out at the city which was save, at the world which was saved, "The Human Complementation Project can still be completed."  
"So what?" Rei asked without giving it importance.  
"Yui. I know you are there. At least I know that you are not the Rei we used to know" he turned towards her, "Rei would have never answered that way."  
"True. But what does anything has to do with me? I'm just an instrument."  
"Am not Gendou. I was blinded by Gendou's dissuading ability. And greed. Know I understand the Project is wrong and it most be stopped" Fuyutsuki sat in his desk, slowly, "Yet SEELE could force the Third Impact. They have the DNA of Lillith and they can easily duplicate it."  
"And why are you telling me all this?"  
"Because am dying. Maybe that's what made me change my mind about the whole idea Gendou had. Maybe we should just. follow what our destiny says and not force events to happen. I can't stop it this time. I want you to stop it" he coughed and halted for a moment, recovering his breath. As he looked up, he noticed how Rei stood and tried helping him.  
She knelt besides him, "But. how?"  
"I don't know, Rei. But you have new gifts. Use your instincts."  
A bell rang. "SEELE wants to meet me. They will probably replace me. soon. Good thing I was able to see you have feeling before I died" Fuyutsuki smiled as he stood up, "I'll be seeing you."  
As the Commander exited solemnly through a back door, Rei felt the coldness of water run through her speckled cheeks again.  
  
"Ha! I won, anta baka." Sean yelled as another victory in chess could be written in his score.  
"You are just lucky." Asuka uttered loudly, she got used to being active again within weeks. Sean was always there for her, every single day. Their friendship had grown mature in a few days. "But am not walking. I don't feel ready."  
"Ah, don't be such a bad loser! I dare you." he insisted, then smiled reassuringly and said, "I know you can do it."  
Asuka nodded. She got changed that day because Sean told the nurse about the stake. She tried rising herself and sit on the bed, so Sean help her out. "Hey! I don't need your help!" Asuka yelled.  
Sean knew her enough to understand it wasn't a good idea to dare her, "Whatever, but I'll help you when you stand and walk, want it or not."  
She made it after trying several times. She slowly sled towards the end of the bed and placed her feet firmly in the floor. "Chilly. Well, are you going to help me or not?" she asked him.  
"Yes." he stood next to her and grabbed her arm tightly. She let herself fall and stood with all her might, steadily. "Good, let's walk a bit."  
Asuka nodded and started striding through the room. Slow steps, one followed after another. "Ha! I knew I could do this with ease. I'm the best."  
Sean just sighed when he noticed Asuka was falling towards him after feeling so confident. He tried holding her up but it was too late. They both fell, Asuka on top of Sean, making a crashing noise which could have awaken the dead, plus Asuka's high pitch screech.  
"What's going on.?" the nurse entered the room and saw the two teenagers in a rather awkward position. "Oh God. I see the girl hasn't been with a man since a long time." the woman laughed sarcastically as the teenagers stood.  
"We just stumbled." Sean helped her up and noticed she was blushing. He smiled.  
"Y.Yeah, we just stumbled!" she undusted her dress as if it was one of her old ones. "By the way, can I go out? At least to see the sunlight, this room is giving me the creeps already."  
"Why not. Sure you don't need the wheelchair?" the nurse asked as she checked something on a paper which hanged from the room's door.  
"Nope. Am alright" she grasped Sean close to her, "I have him here."  
"Great, then you guys can go." the nurse nodded.  
  
Sean viewed the her anxious blue eyes. She view the sky, the mountains, the trees, as if she had never seen them before. Her happiness seemed so ethereal to him, he had his own problems, yet he needed to deal with her problems as well. Something inside of him urged him to do so, and it could be anything but pity, because he couldn't feel pity for Asuka. Perhaps it was love. The important idea was that he had to ask her about why she was there, what happened before. She should have been able to recover from her past trauma and should be able to answer. But he didn't like the idea of asking her and depleting her happiness so abruptly. It wasn't for her, it was because he liked to see her happy. "I never felt so happy." she whispered, "am. alive. and I. feel so happy."  
He was surprised by her reaction, yet acted readily, "Why you say such a thing? Why was alive in the middle of the whole happy phrase?"  
She looked at her, with a troubled and anguished face, "You. wouldn't understand. It is to hard to be explained. Everything was so. fast. I don't want to remember it.am not ready."  
He sighed while giving her a reassuring smile, "Sorry I urged you. I'm just curious."  
She smiled back, "Well, let's say you don't want to know about it."  
He stared dumbfounded at her words and tried uttering some words which may had vanished his questions, but Asuka took the same heartbreaking stance again and he couldn't force himself to do the inquiries.  
  
He waved bye. She waved back. They smiled at each other. She let herself fall back into the bed and thoughts of Sean wandered her mind. Sean had been so nice to her during the week and she didn't deserve it after how she treated Shinji. She felt so bad about what happened. But she couldn't remember. Her psychology class reminded her about how a mind might restrain and leave them untouched by the consciousness. She knew she wouldn't remember till she was ready, so she just lied back and slept. 


End file.
